Literary Birthday – 23 May – Jane Kenyon

Jane Kenyon was born 23 May 1947 and died 22 April 1995.

Five Quotes

1. A poet‘s job is to find a name for everything: to be a fearless finder of the names of things.
2. Be a good steward of your gifts. Protect your time. Feed your inner life. Avoid too much noise. Read good books, have good sentences in your ears. Be by yourself as often as you can. Walk. Take the phone off the hook. Work regular hours.
3. The soul’s bliss and suffering are bound together.
4. The poet’s job is to put into words those feelings we all have that are so deep, so important, and yet so difficult to name, to tell the truth in such a beautiful way, that people cannot live without it.
5. My ear is not working, my poetry ear. I can’t write a line that doesn’t sound like pots and pans falling out of the cupboard.

Jane Kenyon was an American poet and translator. She is well-known for Otherwise: New & Selected Poems.

Image

Fair use to illustrate author

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jane_Kenyon.jpg

by Amanda Patterson

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